Long Story
Long Story is a game announced by Lunatic Entertainment in May of 2015. It is stated to be of an incredible size and scope, involving some 700+ characters total, including numerous playable, NPC, and boss characters. The game utilizes the Monster Space engine converted into a turn-based RPG. The game's name stems from taking 200+ hours to complete. The game allows the option to let friends on your contact list to drop in and out of your game at will. These other players can choose to set up their own party to complete quests on their own, or they can, if close enough to another player, allow themselves to be counted as that party and battle together; they will still act on their own outside of battle, unlike early Tales games. However, players cannot choose the same party members as those that have already been selected by other users, providing an interesting balance, forcing players to try out a number of the available characters and keep more than just their preferred party leveled up. Story Synopsis Chapter 1: Denkigama The game opens up in a small, quaint village specializing both in agriculture and subsistence fishing, nestled between the Vista Foothills mountain range and the Bubbly Expanse ocean. Splashing fish and mewing chyka are the most common sights and sounds. The party are locals here, having been all born here and lived here their entire lives. The game's initial 7 tasks consist of various manual labor tasks expected of such a settlement. However, this does not remain true for long. Initial Task 1: Till Fields thumb|left|Woody Treefern dancing (idle animation) thumb|Woody Treefern boastfully chatting. The first task involves planting the season's harvest. This is relatively nonchalant, and involves first tilling the fields, then planting the seeds into the ground. Afterwards, they must go fetch water buckets and water the rows. Throughout this first task, the player is able to converse with an intelligent, perpetually pleased plant named Woody Treefern. Treefern will remind them of what tasks still need to be done, and can also be asked for hints. Initial Task 2: Fish & Game With the fields properly tilled, the small group are informed that the fish are running, and therefore it is time to catch this season's slippery harvest. They are also given their first opportunity to hunt, and are tasked to boat out to Hunter's Cove, where the town of Denki-gama catches their meat. In order to accomplish this task, they are sent with allowances to first purchase equipment to use for the hunt. With that, they can go climb into the rowboat to move out to the island. The seas are calm and there are no incidents along the way, making for an easy ride. After arriving at the island and mooring the boat, the party are tasked with finding their prey items, a few local species of deer- (unspecified) and bird-equivalents (Whifflebird) to sustain the town. The deer is a simple task of locating the meadow in the middle of the forest and getting into the game's first battle sequence, which is very simple. Once the deer has been slain, the player then must travel back to the boat to put the animal in it before hunting the more elusive Whifflebird.frame|A [[Whifflebird.]] To find it, the player must first check every screen of the island, at which point the bird will reveal itself. A goofy-looking creature, this ratite proves significantly more difficult to catch, and it will appear on every screen from then on out, either dashing back and forth or performing some sort of silly action like hiding in the bushes or dancing and squawking in the middle of the screen. To initiate battle with the Whifflebird, the party must make physical contact with the creature. However, it has a high tendency to flee battles, usually after the first strike is made upon it. Luckily, the more damage done to it the slower it gets due to becoming dazed and thus making it easier to catch. Also, if the player is unable to catch the bird within 5 minutes it will accidentally run into a tree and knock itself out, to cut down on frustration factor; however failing to catch the bird yourself will result in losing out on an Achievement. thumb|left|Retari, the fisherman With both the deer-creature and the Whifflebird back at the boat, the party loads up and heads back to town. There isn't much time to waste however, and they are immediately asked to obtain the fishing net from the hut of Retari, the local fishing expert. Although the party tries to just take the net, he bursts out of his home and startles them. Apologizing, he informs them that today would be a good day for crabs, as well, and tells them to grab some traps while they are at it. He then proceeds to instruct the party on how to fish and set traps, and shoos them on their way back to the shoreline. However, once they reach the shore they are surprised to see Retari waiting for them. He informs them that he has changed his mind and thinks he should probably go with them on this endeavor, as the sea was looking "extra frothy today"; this gives the party their very first Guest, which will become a common feature throughout the rest of the game. First, the party must set out the fishing net. It is large and so they must attach one end to the shoreline's pulley system and the other to the aft of their rowboat before rowing a distance out and setting the line. Once the line is pulled taught, they then drop an anchor for it and Retari instructs them to continue on back to the waters of Hunter's Cove. Here they travel to specific spots, where Retari then has the boys toss out the crab traps. Once all traps are set out, he tells them that it is time to check the net. Fish have already filled the net, and so the party returns to shore and, with the rest of the townsfolk, haul in the net. At this point they have to catch the fish as they flop about randomly on the beach (making contact with the fish is enough to catch them) and then head back out to check the traps. The traps, too, are full already! Retari comments on how interesting this turn of events have been, as it usually takes longer to catch something. With the traps set back out, Retari notes incoming inclement weather and informs the party that they better head back home for now. On the way, the sea gets steadily more frothy, until the entire sea around the boat looks like a bubble bath. Retari acts cautiously and suspicious, and sure enough a massive crustacean emerges from the water, which the old fisherman refers to as his nemesis, his "Frothy Foe". This initiates the game's first boss battle, against the creature that is simply referred to as Frothy Foe. Luckily the party has Retari as their guest member, and thus it is quite a bit easier, as the boss can knock the party out. Eventually Frothy Foe is defeated and slips back beneath the waves and the party boat back to shore, no worse for wear. They then return the rest of the catches to the beach and decide to go inside to sleep off the incoming thunderstorm, as well as all the cuts and bruises they had obtained that day. Initial Task 3: Unspecified Initial Task 4: Missing Child Initial Task 5: There's Been a Murder The fifth task played out in the game begins when the player(s) discover a lady lamenting at the town square's fountain. Investigating the situation reveals that she is the local bunny farm matron, and she has become very distraught as her flock has been mysteriously dying off—rather gruesomely, in fact—each night for the past few weeks. She feels that she has nowhere left to turn, but the party volunteer to help her catch the culprit.thumb|The guilty party, #47. After collecting several clues and encountering a number of close calls, the team discover that the culprit is none other than one of the matron's bunnies, an albino runt wearing socks on his ears and wielding a kitchen knife. Although he tries to attack the party, he is defeated and the proof is shown to the matron. She expresses shock and anguish to discover it was her once-beloved #47 that had committed these atrocious acts. Deeply troubled, she thanks the party and hands them a Lucky Rabbits Foot before sending them on their way. Initial Task 6: Weed the Field frame|[[Eloise the Druid.]] The sixth task begins automatically the next morning, with the main character's father bursting into his bedroom, waking him up from a dead sleep. Groggy and confused, he listens to his father hurriedly explain away how the harvest has been infested with weeds and they must act immediately. Although he does not initially understand why this needs to occur immediately, he travels back to the garden anyhow and soon discovers that these are very aggressive weeds that he and his friends. Seeing their friend Woody Treefern greatly weakened, they learn that the weeds are leeching all of the nutrients out of the soil for themselves and that in order to not only save him but also save this year's harvest someone must fight to subdue the weeds. thumb|350px|The Overripe Gargleberry. In the end they fight the Overripe Gargleberry, a monstrous, severely overgrown berry bush that has gained an insatiable voracity for humanoid flesh. During combat, it has a weak spot, consisting of a uvula-like seed attached to the back of its throat that can be targeted separately from the main body. It is able to swallow a party member whole, giving them a timer similar to Death Status as it digests them. They can still attack and defend and will always hit the boss while swallowed, but the amount of damage they will do is minimal, as is the amount of damage that defense would otherwise mitigate being dealt to them. Critical hits while swallowed are rare, and will only happen at a base of 5% chance. When a character is swallowed, the Overripe Gargleberry's weak point is also unavailable to strike. The character will remain in the boss' mouth until either they run out of HP and faint, they deal a critical hit to the enemy, or enough damage is dealt to it on the outside, causing it to spit the character back out. Once the Overripe Gargleberry is slain the farm will be free from its tyranny, and the land will begin to return to its normal state. If Woody Treefern is spoken to again, he will reveal that it will still take some time for the land to return to normal, and he will remain wilted for the rest of the chapter, too weak still to stand tall. Initial Task 7: War on Bugs The final task starts at the tail end of the next day, with the community noting the huge number of insects that have begun running amok through town, however as it is getting dark the town choose to rest up first before the endeavor. To investigate the party must shrink themselves down to insect size, but in order to do so they must first seek out a local hermetic witch and insult her so that she will place a shrinking curse upon them. Once minuscule, they can snoop into the arthropod agenda. Before long -- in fact, while still in the witch's cabin itself -- the group are captured by a group of insect soldiers and are forced to board a fly bomber which then escorts back to their base, a sealed ant nest. While they are held captive for a short amount of time under guard, they are soon discovered to not be members of the enemy forces and are therefore released. However they are requested in to the tactical war room to meet with this nest's leader. They meet resistance leader Cicada who tells them that there is an ongoing war between the various insect species, a war instigated when a group of devious raiders led by the insane and energetic click beetle, Snapper, attacked the Ant Nest and sold its myriad of inhabitants into slavery; at this juncture, only 3 members of the hive are still free: Anty, Aunty, and Armored Ant, who offered their decimated home as a new home base for the guerrilla fighters. Chawan and Rehan offer their aid in hopes of ending the battle prematurely before it damages the crops and structures of the community, although Serenity is impartial but joins out of obligation. They are readily accepted into the Resistance. The party learns that several missions must be completed in order to subdue the uprising, including reopening the supply lines and repairing damage done to the hive's structure. However, each of these tasks involve doing battle with one of Snapper's generals, including Diver and Backswimmer. The first mission is to free the resistance's communications relay, which has been taken over atop the roof of the Witch's Hut. The party are joined by Anty Ant as a new guest and the four individuals board the dragonfly Grounder, who takes them to the rooftop and they repel from him onto the roof. After stealthily working their way through to the relay which is revealed to be a large blue cricket, they are blocked by a seemingly possessed mouse; upon defeating it in battle Botfly, the first of Snapper's generals, emerges from the back of the creature's neck, ready to attack. The party must fight him as well as the boss' "second form", but he is soon defeated thanks to his exoskeleton being weak (from having only just emerged) and the relay is freed. frameHe tells the group that his name is Beezertl and thanks them before hopping off the roof to find a new location to set up. The fighters return to HQ and Anty drops out of the party to tell the Resistance the good news. Noticing the party's skills in the last mission, Cicada tells them that the supply lines have also been severed, and sends them aboard Grounder to the local store. Here they rendezvous with Drugbust, a beetle already in the building to secure their food supply. He tells you he received a communique that you are to assist him and quickly joins the party as a guest. Again the group employ stealthy tactics, with Drugbust drilling holes in certain structures to provide makeshift ways around the multitude of soldiers guarding the granary. They learn that this cadre of soldiers is under the command of Psyllopsis, the second of Snapper's generals, and also discover that he is in the back, torturing the resistance fighter Fuscus for information. They must quickly get to the central chamber to both save Fuscus and prevent any info from being leaked, but also must be sneaky about it. They arrive just in time but fail to knock out Psyllopsis before he notices them, initiating another boss battle. In battle, Psyllopsis proves to be an agile fighter, hopping around the battlefield and performing Jump strikes that take him from the field of battle for a turn before landing on a foe for physical damage. Drugbust seems to anticipate this however and will defend against the strikes with his cybernetic drill arm, damaging Psyllopsis instead. Eventually the general is defeated and they free Fuscus, although he is too weak to help fight. As they drag Fuscus out of the room to safety, Psyllopsis sends out an alert and his soldiers take notice of the party. They must now fight their way out of the granary, though luckily they are weak. About a quarter of the way through Fuscus asks to take a detour to the sugar water supply; doing so allows him to regain his strength and he finally joins the party as a second guest member. He then tells them that there is a can of insecticide that they could use to take out the rest of the forces and secure the supplies, and so they all move in its direction, facing opposition along the way. As they finally reach the can and prepare to administer its payload, Psyllopsis shows up again, this time flown in by a now-cybernetically enhanced Botfly. The party must fight both generals at once, although Psyllopsis starts the battle at only 3/4 health due to his prior injuries. Once defeated the can is utilized and the resistance team escape aboard Grounder just in time to watch as the forces in the area are all killed by the pesticide. They again return to base, and Fuscus moves on to the triage ward to receive treatment from Aunty and the party decide to get some much-needed rest in some makeshift beds. The game fades out. After the game fades back in, the party discover that Armored Ant is standing in their sleeping quarters. Once they have all woken up, he announces that Cicada would like to see them in his chambers. He then leads the party to the Queen's Hall. At first, Cicada quips about how this room once held a beautiful Ant Queen, but she has disappeared along with most of her subjects. He mentions how he tries to respect the hive for what it once was, and that he thinks Anty, Aunty, and Armored all appreciate this. He then changes the subject and informs them that he knows that they are villagers, and that he is sure that they have loved ones in the village above. He insures them that he harbors no ill-will towards their people, but informs them that Snapper's forces do not feel the same way. He then proceeds to tell them, "The reason I'm telling you this is..." before pausing for a moment and then turning around to face them directly, "they have stopped your town's water supply. The fountain, the well -- it all originates from a single source, an underground lake. I thank you for your help in the past, but now it appears that we have a mutual reason for stopping Snapper and his goons." He then sends the party on their way to rendezvous with agents already on their way underground. Following the tunnels leading below the nest, the party meet up with Jewel, a glowworm who is there to light their way with her bioluminescence. She technically joins the party as a guest, but does not fight and instead simply appears above them on the ceiling on the adventure map and behind them in battle. Further up ahead they also meet Mole Cricket, who joins the party as an actual guest member and helps them dig through the substrate in some areas, and during the second one of these digging sessions, they accidentally uncover a large larval creature: Carabid. It immediately attacks and the party must battle it; it falls after a few turns of hard strikes but as the party leaves the room it reawakens and continues pursuit. From here on for a short time the party are forced to try and escape its mandibles, and it will emerge suddenly in several locations and initiate a battle where it needs to be temporarily subdued again. The first two times it is known as "Carabid: Instar 1", but after this it suddenly grows arms and becomes "Carabid: Instar 2". At this point you have to subdue it by chopping off one of its new arms and make your escape as it screams in agony. It is fought again in 2nd Instar but now only with one arm, and it periodically must rest from its serious injury. Next it transforms into "Carabid: Instar 3", growing a pair of legs and regenerating its lost arm. At this point it is faster than before and you have to fight it three times in this state before reaching the water table. At this point the Carabid corners you and begins to pupate towards an adult form. You are told that you must stop it from transforming, and so you must continuously attack it, which cuts down its otherwise regenerating health bar. Eventually Mole Cricket notes a lose pebble above you and you must attack that instead while he keeps the Carabid at bay. Loosening the rock, it falls on the creature and seemingly crushes it; it does not get back up. Assuming the creature has been slain, the party decide to camp. With the ordeal behind them, they discuss how they are going to continue further in. Deciding to build a raft, and set out to gather what little they can from along the shore. The party separates and the player takes control of Rehan alone, and head north from their current location to find root fibers. While collecting 7 of these root fiber bundles Rehan runs into Fuscus again, and is surprised to see him down here. When asked, he tells him that he is down here on reconnaissance and that another member of the Resistance is down here, too. Rehan returns to the camp with Fuscus in tow, and finds that the others have gathered all their supplies. They set to build a raft, and once finished a beetle emerges from the waters to everyone's surprise: This is Supercycle, the resident water beetle and expert naval officer of the Resistance. He tells the party to attach their raft to him and he will drag them down the river towards the enemy installment, and they do as told. Along the way they encounter several water-based enemies, such as Water Fleas and Pond Skimmers. They then enter an eddy to stage the final leg of their journey, but before they can recover Supercycle begins spinning in place, obviously alarmed by something. Suddenly a giant water tiger emerges and the crew immediately enter a boss battle against Dytiscus, a sea serpent-like beetle larvae. During the fight the party starts out with both Mole Cricket and Fuscus as their guests, but Fuscus keeps hesitating anytime he would otherwise attack. Realizing Fuscus is no real use to them in the battle, Supercycle steps up and takes his place. Eventually Dytiscus is defeated and with a shriek, sinks below the surface. The party then turn to Fuscus who is silent until prodded. He eventually admits to them that Dytiscus is his son, still in his larval state but who betrayed Fuscus and his wife to join Snapper's cause. The party forgive him and finally move on to reach the Underground Base. Beaching and then disembarking the raft, Jewel "goes dark" with her bioluminescence and Supercycle informs them of the situation: Three of Snapper's generals are overseeing this project due to the great importance of it to him. He does have good news, though, telling them that the generals are on three different sections of the base and therefore taking them out should be a viable option. These three areas are the Diversion Gate, which allows good water to be diverted into Snapper's headquarters; the Water Mistreatment Plant, which is poisoning water for distribution back to the villagers; and the Hatchery, where an army of mosquitoes is being developed to strike the Resistance. The party think to save the villagers first but overhear that the poison will take a few more days to be ready for deployment; they breathe a sigh of relief and instead choose to go and take care of the Diversion Gate and stop the supply of water to Snapper's forces. To get there, they must dive under the water and Rehan and Chawan both inform Supercycle that they cannot breathe underwater. Supercycle nods and takes them on a short detour to a local water spider's nest to obtain air bubbles to breathe out of. While the water spider is not a member of Snapper's forces, he is also not an ally of the Resistance, and therefore they must wait for the spider to leave before running in and retrieving air bubbles. The two Loranches then don the bubbles like helmets and the party continues on. Mole Cricket, Jewel, and Fuscus stay behind to discreetly take down some of the active patrols in the area and make their later jobs easier. This entire area is underwater and allows the characters to swim about and find their way to the main control room, where they encounter the first of the three generals: Diver. Diver quickly strikes the air bubbles around both Chawan and Rehan, compromising them and giving the two a mere five rounds before their bubbles pop. At this point they have only 3 rounds before running out of oxygen, but during the second of these rounds (and therefore during the 7th round of combat) the party hear from Fuscus who calls out to them to let them know that he is lowering the water levels to help them. This opens a pocket of water at the top of the battle screen and the two Loranches will travel up to the air every fourth turn for the rest of the battle to breathe, thereby not allowing them to act. Luckily, Serenity is a nightmare and therefore doesn't need to breathe and Supercycle is perfectly fine in an aquatic environment. Eventually the party are able to strike Diver down and Fuscus lowers the water level most of the way down so that they can breathe and return to the main control levers. They then divert the water back to the villagers, and by extension, the Resistance as well. With that the party continues on to the Water Mistreatment Plant. Here they must move through natural hallways, avoiding poisonous waters dripping from above, pooling below, or spraying out of small geysers; they also must avoid a few larger patrols. They finally reach the control room, where they encounter the deadly Boater, whose four arms have been transformed into sharp blades. He strikes four times per round, making him difficult, but eventually he is defeated. The poison valve is then diverted to the Hatchery, but it is discovered that a valve at the Hatchery must also be opened to poison the new army. stuck in the closed position before the party moves on. Because of this they must travel to the Hatchery as well, where most of the armed forces can be found. Here they must just battle their way through, and they eventually reach the valve and turn it to poison the mosquitoes. The mission is successful and Snapper's new army perishes. Angered, the final of the three generals, Boatman shows his face -- however he emerges to attack the party in a large mech. This causes him to be the hardest of the three generals to defeat, as his entire body is protected by his machine. The mech's cannon also hits hard, but luckily Fuscus, Mole Cricket, and Jewel all rejoin the party for this battle. Every 10 rounds, Jewel will flash her bioluminescence which will blind Boatman and make the battle temporarily easier for the party. Once Boatman's mech is defeated, Boatman finds that he is locked in and unable to escape its smoldering husk. He curses the Rebellion and can do nothing as they flee the area. Returning to HQ, the party discovers that the Resistance is now stronger than ever before. Cicada insists that they finally have enough troops to stage an attack on Snapper's base, and after a short speech the army moves out to hit their foe's fortress head-on. Cicada personally asks Rehan, Chawan, and Serenity to guard the Goliath Tanks, alongside Armored Ant. The Resistance finds themselves mopping the floor with Snapper's remaining forces but soon the mad click beetle suddenly turns the tides when his enforcer, Anthrax steps out and begins using his annihilator beam integrated into his arm to virtually erase swathes of Resistance troops from existence. Sensing an urgency that they had to take out Snapper while they had a chance, Cicada, Fuscus, Anty, Armored, Mole, Drugbust, and Supercycle all board Grounder and head directly to the base. Using two other Resistance members already aboard Grounder to make a makeshift zip line -- Inchworm and Mealy -- the rest of the group enter the headquarters grounds just in time, as two large wasps (Drone and Hornet) attack Grounder and causing him to crash. Before the infiltration team can react, the wasps turn their attention to the group. Despite being at the beginning, this is the instance with the most amount of guests in your party at one time. However, there are no healers among them, and so they will slowly be whittled down. Cicada insists that they just need to wait for their saboteur, Bee-Host, to show up. After about 16 rounds he will finally appear, and will leap onto Hornet and effectively possess him. At that point Hornet will start attacking Drone, and the two will eventually only attack each other. Once Drone is defeated the battle ends and Bee-Host flies off with Hornet while the rest of the team sneak into the structure. They must storm the fortress, with the tempo of the music hinting at the urgency. Along the way the roof collapses in one hallway, separating the group into two: Cicada, Anty and Armored Ant, Fuscus and Supercycle; and Rehan, Chawan, Serenity, Drugbust, and Mole. They agree to find a way to meet up again. After a few rooms however the party sees Cicada and his party encountering Boater. He then orders Anty, Fuscus, and Supercycle to continue to the rendezvous while he and Armored Ant prepare to fight the general. Suddenly however Cicada is stopped by severe pain in his body and a moment later something bursts out of his chest, shocking your party and taking Armored's attention away from Boater. Boater than suddenly leaps at Cicada and strikes, decapitating him. The party cry out as he falls to the ground. Armored comes to his senses and attacks Boater, who parries. The two struggle against one another but the party witnesses the object that burst forth from Cicada to grow larger, growing into a tall robot. This machine then fires a cloud of nanobots at Armored Ant while Boater swiftly leaps out of the way. Armored tries to continue to fight but the nanobots harden and Armored Ant is effectively turned into a statue. The two villains continue on, ignoring your party on the other side of the window. thumb|left|Snapper, insane leader of the insect coup Eventually the party encounter and then face Snapper himself, and soundly defeat him. With Snapper defeated, the opposing insect force retreats and the Ant Army thanks the heroes, insisting that they will do everything they can to protect the town's crops. Once they have ended the feud, they must find a way to apologize to the witch and get back to normal size. Explosive Deal thumb|Barry Blaszcowicz, the traveling bomb salesman. After only a few days of these tasks, a commotion in the town square causes the party to investigate. As it turns out, a traveling salesman has just arrived: His name is Barry Blaszcowicz from the metropolis of Analogue City on the other side of the mountains, and he sells explosive devices for the "betterment of society". He states has come to Denki-gama in an attempt to peddle his wares, insisting that the use of his bombs could effectively quintuple productivity with little to no side effects other than "the sudden flash of pretty colors and the great feeling in your chest of a job well done". He tells the townsfolk that bombs could not only be used to quickly blast earth to till fallow ground and make it usable again but also could be used to quickly stun fish for easy and quick capture. A life of enjoyment could be theirs by simply purchasing his devices. The townsfolk are a bit uneasy about this aspect, as they rely on these industries to feed their families and simply survive. Undaunted, Blaszcowicz offers to perform a simple demonstration of his bombs' awesome power. He sets up both a farming and fishing test up to go off at the same time, again attempting to show how quickly all of their hard work could be done in a matter of hours, allowing them to kick back and relax for the rest of the day. However, seemingly in his excitement he somehow managed to mess up both demonstrations, and the farmland is converted into pock-filled ruts (though sure, still tilled) and the waters leave a large number of dead, not stunned, fish - far too many for the village to eat and not have anything go to waste. Angered at this disrespect, the elder chastises him and explains that the farmland would be unusable in its current state and that the fish population would take years to return to their normal levels. Although Blaszcowicz tries to defend his actions, he stammers and chokes. The townsfolk drive him out of town and try to begin rebuilding. Later that very same night however the salesman returns to the town under cover of darkness. Revealing himself to be a maniacal, vengeful soul, he quietly plants bombs all throughout the township. He detonates one early to wake the town, and reveals to them the situation they are now under. Most citizens are too scared to do anything about this, but the party and a few others actively seek out the bombs before it is too late. Unfortunately, although they are able to gather all of the devices successfully, nobody has any idea how to actually disarm a bomb. Fearing their town is still going to be leveled, one individual notices that they are all blinking and that they are remote detonation bombs, and not time bombs as initially assumed. The party rush through town to find the salesman and stop the threat at its source, but find that he has set up a small encampment outside of town. They confront him and try to get the remote device from him but he then reveals he is more than he seems, and that he has spent much of his life training in fencing. He then proceeds to parry many of the party's attacks, only failing to parry critical strikes until he tires, at which point he is unable to defend himself. He languishes that he shouldn't have put off training, and this weakness becomes his downfall. Defeated, he leaves the detonation device behind and flees with his life towards the foothills. The party decide that it is better for them to stop him now than to wait in town for his inevitable return. They pursue their foe. Chapter 2: Vista Foothills The party chase after Barry Blaszcowicz, and find themselves in the Vista Foothills which surround the secluded town of Denki-gama. However, they lose his trail. Forest of the Forsaken Not Out of the Woods Yet Snake in the Grass Chaos on Mt. Krumbel Although they had lost his trail for a short period and become lost in the woods, the party eventually locate their target, Barry Blaszcowicz, along Mt. Krumbel. Here Blaszcowicz has run into a local construction company, and using his power of words has convinced them to consider using his bombs to help carve the path towards societal progress. Although the party try and warn the construction workers that Blaszcowicz has no good intentions, the workers laugh in the party's face, chocking their tale up to "kid fancy". When the party continues to insist, they are escorted off the premises, being told that they are causing a commotion and that detonation will be under way that afternoon. The party is then forced to sneak around the construction site and stay out of sight while trying to reveal evidence of Blaszowicz's mania. They eventually find evidence in Blaszowicz's Journal, which they bring to the Supervisor. Unfortunately the detonation has already begun and even the supervisor cannot stop it now. The party watches anxiously as the wall of granite is detonated, and are shocked along with everyone else when the blast proves to be too intense, causing an earthquake that damages the construction equipment and buries the camp in rubble. When everybody comes to, the Supervisor has been gravely injured and can no longer speak up for the party. Confusion temporarily worms its way through the camp's ranks until Blaszowicz convinces them that there is likely a treasure trove of jewels buried below and that they will all be filthy stinking rich. Greed overtakes them and a survey team is hastily put together to delve into the depths. The party is again escorted off-site and a guard is posted who prevents their re-entry. Disheartened but not wanting to leave without bringing Blaszowicz to justice, they prepare a camp on a nearby ridge overlooking the demolition site. In the middle of the night the team is awakened by the screams and howls of frightened and injured men. Quickly steeling themselves they rush the camp again, only to find everybody there dead and monsters running amok. Blaszowicz however has survived by hiding in the watch tower along with the guard, and dons a bomb suit upon seeing the party. He declares the site as lost and insists the guard follow him into the caverns; when he does not, Blaszowicz locks him in the tower with a bomb, which detonates and kills the man. Blaszowicz flees down into the mountain tunnel system. ...and the Lords of the Underworld Entering the caverns under Mt. Krumbel, the party begin their search for Blaszowicz, fighting off numbers of Night Goblins and various aggressive fauna that has been disturbed by the detonation. Although they quickly locate and corner their fleeing foe, they are interrupted from exacting vengeance when the floor collapses beneath their feet, sending the party and the bombs salesman plummeting to the levels below. Stirring after an indeterminate time unconscious, the party witnesses some of the local rocks appear to shuffle, and then watch helplessly as the salesman is dragged slowly away from them. The party then black outs again, only to wake again hours later in a cell built out of stalactites and stalagmites. Looking around, they soon discover that they are in a makeshift prison, and are surrounded by various others of differing races: Prince Azrael the Drow, Skarsnik the Night Goblin, Wrigglepriest Angurwrithem the Matoda and his daughter Aerayt, and of course, Blaszowicz. Although Angurwrithem is too deeply entranced in his own religious prayers and Skarsnik is certainly a devious fiend, Aerayt is curious towards conversing with your kind. The elven prince is in seemingly more dire straits however—he is desperately trying to escape his cell in order to save his father, the King of the Drow, from being executed by their captors, the Dwarves. Azrael, in his desperation, informs the party that they should not be fooled by outward appearances, and that the Drow are a benevolent race, and that the Matoda are harmless as all they care about is the worship of the soil and giant worms; he states that his species are only imprisoned because they sit on a large gem vein as the seat of their throne that the Dwarves wish to consume, being lithovores, and that the Matoda are only imprisoned because the Dwarves have allied with the Kobolds, which predate upon their kind. Azrael then admits that the Night Goblins are fiendish, but in order for them all to escape death's door they would have to ally with Skarsnik out of necessity. Over the course of a few days, the party and the other prisoners work towards an escape, eventually pulling it off 5 days after the party was imprisoned. The party have a few options that will affect later portions of the game: *They can either help Angurwrithem summon the giant Rockborer Worms which will make him appreciate them later on but cause his daughter to greatly dislike them, or refuse to aid him, causing his ire towards the party but Aerayt's alliance. This will affect an entire subchapter later on. *When the prison break finally occurs, the party must make the choice to either release Blaszowicz from his cell as well to give him a fighting chance but that the alliance of convenience was over immediately following, or refuse to release him and leave him to his fate. Either way he will find a way out to be encountered later on, but it will change his following dialog during a later encounter with him. In the end, all of the prisoners make their escape, but the King is slain before the party and Azrael can get to him. Distraught, he escapes with the party to his kingdom, where he offers them sanctuary. Azrael broods over the course of the following day, but invites the party to witness his coronation as the new King of the Drow. With a heavy heart he openly thanks the party for their part in his escape, and after the ceremony he brings them to his throne for a private conversation. Here, he informs the party that despite the recent events, his people did not possess the strength to fight against the combined might of the Dwarf-Kobold Coalition. He asks our heroes if they would be willing to help strengthen the might of the Drow to better protect their citizens. This involves small raids against both the Kobold village and the Dwarf stronghold, building a wall to prevent possible raids by Night Goblins from deeper in the caverns, and finally finding out how to tame the local, super aggressive Biloids into a warmount for the Drow people. Once these tasks are finished, the party is then offered a chance to help the Drow make a push against the Dwarf Stronghold. They agree and storm the base they recently escaped from, ultimately bringing it down. Azrael then thanks them for their aid, and asks if there is anything he can do for them. They inform him that they are still seeking the Bomb Salesman, and he sends his scouts out, who come back later on to inform the party which direction to focus their search. Although the group are offered permanent sanctuary within the Drow territory, they respectfully decline and move on their way with Azrael's apparent blessing. After much searching in the dark, the party find Blaszowicz again, who has gotten himself cornered. Though they ask him to surrender he refuses and attacks. Nearly defeated, he pulls out his largest bomb yet, one that he can barely even hold without collapsing. He cries out that this is Game Over but the party succeeds in knocking him unconscious before he can work up the strength to heave the giant bomb at them. Crushed under the bomb he is unable to flee as the bomb's fuse runs low. The party however are able to hide deeper in the caverns, and the explosion causes the tunnels to begin to cave in. Luckily for the party, this detonation has opened another path through the mountain (and also appears to have killed Blaszowicz as well). Feeling their job is done but unable to directly return to Denkigama, the party make their way down the mountainside towards the awaiting Analogue City. Chapter 3: Analogue City Hostage Situation Arriving in the sprawling Analogue City, the party are in awe as none of them have seen a real city before. Analogue City is a settlement built and maintained by the Loranche, vibrantly-haired, magically-inclined near-humans, utilizing a mysterious power source known as "psychocite". Before long, they come across a homeless vagrant named Reynold Deponio who asks them for a hand-out; whether they say yes or no to him, he explains to the party that in order to buy anything in the town, they are going to need a pscyhotronic currency card which they could obtain simply by opening a bank account, and so they travel to a nearby one to set themselves up. The bank at this time is empty and they can immediately speak to a teller about opening an account; she asks where they work and they tell her they do not. She then informs them that they need a job to get an account, and so they must leave the bank and seek out an occupation. If the party returns to Deponio, he will suggest that maybe one of the science research & development companies may be able to help them out, and marks them on the party's city map. They eventually discover that a eugenics scientist is looking for assistants, and gladly lets them be employed by him when he learns of their desire to have a bank account. The party are then able to return to the bank to open an account. Upon opening the door they realize the line is fairly line and they are forced to stand in it and wait. Within a few minutes, two intimidating looking individuals crash through the door and window respectively, announcing that the bank is being robbed. One of these two robbers, Mothball, flutters into the civilian line and begins taking their personal items while the other, Mobster Moth, moves to the teller windows and demands the safe be opened. Everyone involved is panicked with the exception of the robbers themselves... and the party. Not about to stand aside and watch this happen, they step forward and challenge Mothball, and he prepares to fight them. In battle he throws old-style grenades, and proves that he is immune to any Earth-based attacks due to his powered flight capability. Despite these he is soundly defeated. Though injured, his partner Mobster Moth distracts the party by firing upon them and Mothball manages to escape with the money, though not without leaving a trail behind. Not about to leave the bank empty-handed however, the party then tries to open a bank account despite the events that had just unfolded. Flustered but thankful, they immediately honor their request and even waive the normal fee. The party then quickly discuss that the bombs Mothball used were suspiciously similar to those used by Barry Blazcowicz and choose to follow the trail of money, hoping to find the source of this problem. The trail leads them halfway across the city before it suddenly ends -- at the gate leading into the basement of to the local power company headquarters. Unable to proceed further, the gang are forced to abandon their chase and bide their time. Among Thieves Taking Care of Caer Draer As part of their initiation rites into Analogue City's infamous Thieves Guild, the party is tasked with obtaining a lost magical item from within the walls of Caer Draer, a decimated walled fortress along the coastline of this nation, Mainland. Draer had been lost to the great lich Mordecai's forces some years earlier and it now remained in disrepair with a massive number of Goblins inhabiting it. The item in question is none other than Fort Commander Reginald Bingbong's Eternal Flask, a magical artifact that never runs out of booze. While the fort commander was now long dead, the flask would fetch a great price amongst Analogue City's higher-ups, assuming of course the thieves did not wish to simply keep it for themselves. The party must then leave Analogue City for the first time since their arrival there, traveling across the Melodic Prairie, where the local grass-equivalents, the flutegrass, sing softly in the perpetual breeze rolling softly in from the coast (the area theme is meant to represent the flutegrass' tune). Several creatures can be fought out here in the prairie to raise character levels, although it will prove mostly unnecessary once inside Caer Draer itself, where no random battles occur. Even so, a smart player will seek random encounters until they come across a Squawklegger, a deer-like bird-equivalent that will drop the Squawklegger Meat item; the first one dropped will become a Key Item instead of a regular one and cannot be used normally. Arriving at the dilapidated husk of the backside of Draer, the party can hear the ruckus of what is likely thousands of Goblins partying inside. Not wishing to enter an early grave, they choose to bed down and attempt entry after nightfall. They will cook the Squawklegger Meat key item over the fire to turn it into a Squawklegger Steak, and the players can cook other food into new varieties as usual during this time as well; special scenes may also occur around the campfire depending upon whom is currently in the party, including certain characters elaborating more on their own backstories and others potentially discussing possible entries into the fortress with most of them getting shot down for various reasons. By nightfall, the party packs up their camp and returns to the walls of Draer. A small window has been made from knocked out bricks in the wall. The player can choose to squeeze one character in at a time, but must avoid the patrols along the outer perimeter; characters already inside the fort are unable to participate in any battle against guards. Instead, the player can enter through a gate, where the Goblin guard has fallen asleep. However, there are also two Gobblas - a Goblins' answer to hound dogs - at the gate as well. These Gobblas will grumble at you and will attack if you get too close, but a wise player who has collected the Squawklegger Steak item can hand it over here to the Gobblas, who will then be too busy fighting over the steak to pay you anymore attention, and you can then sneak past. The player can perform a coup de grâce on the Goblin Guard for extra items, though no experience will be rewarded in doing so. Unique to this mission, all fighting in the fort is optional, though the game focuses on trying to make it through the area without battling any of the Goblins - attacking any in a fashion that does not kill them in the first attack will alert the town, and battles with Goblins will be nearly non-stop from then on out until 100 are dead, unless they can find a hiding place and wait for the area's "ruckus gauge" to diminish back to zero, at which point the Goblins will stop looking for the player's characters and return to their previous activities. Obviously for this point in the game, this is a poor choice to make. thumb|Goorjian the Hiccup As the player sneaks through the town they can eavesdrop both purposefully and inadvertently upon various Goblins, some of which reveals hints to where Fort Commander Reginald Bingbong's Eternal Flask is located (others include lore and simple jokes). The player will eventually find the Eternal Flask in the possession of the fort's "master of drinkemonies", Goorjian the Hiccup. The player has a few options on the table for how to deal with this situation: #Wait for a slightly-extended period of time while hiding in the shadows, until Goorjian drinks himself into a coma and all other nearby Goblins also leave or pass out. At this point your party can sneak up and play a minigame where you can pick his pocket while trying not to wake him. #You can again wait for him to pass out and perform a coup de grâce. However, while this will get the player the Eternal Flask quicker, he will return later in the game, still alive and looking for vengeance for his forcefully-gained sobriety. #You can simply attack the local Goblins, and fight in a mid-boss battle with Goorjian and a few Goblins (which will be replaced every time one is slain). Afterwards, the other Goblins will begin to chase after the characters, forcing them to race out of the fort before they are killed. With the Eternal Flask stolen, the party returns to Analogue City's undercity and into the Thieves Guild. Greatly pleased with your process, your party are welcomed as full-fledged members of the guild. Pilfered Painting The Mad Doctor Chapter 4: Romero Town Roads Run Amok It's A Zoo Out There A Bunch of Psychopaths Solution Temporary Undeath Row The Antithesis of All We Ever Believed Chapter 5: Return to Analogue Analogue City Riots Chapter 6: Much Darkness Ahead (Stormhand) The Spider's Domain (Loren Forest) Unwelcome Arrival in Stormhand Bogged Down in Myrebog Suspicions Arise Moon Over Lycansylvania Storming Stormhand (Coup d'état!!) Chapter 7: Evercold Mountains Chapter 8: Whisper While trying to locate the mysterious coastal town of Whisper, they are forced to traverse the dangerous mountainous forest region of the Urvonda range. Lost, the party must figure out that the closer they get to town the heavier the mist gets. Whisper is an old coal mining town that has been mostly abandoned. First they must pass an abandoned car and then the welcome sign. After a pass through an old graveyard the party finally arrive in the city limits. Delicatessen Lucky, they find that the lights are on at a local delicatessen called the Famished Burger. Looking for information and directions around town to complete their tasks, they discover that there is only one employee on-shift at the moment, a young man wearing the deli's mascot named Sabbath. Sabbath is not exactly enthused about wearing a huge burger costume, but he sees opportunity in the party's arrival and confides in them that he hates his job. After expressing his desire to return to the days of a promising future when he was the captain of a local rugby team. He convinces the party to do a trio of menial quests for him. Each time the party returns to Sabbath, his personality feels colder, more distant. However the party continues to aid him. After bringing him three items, he warns them of an "incoming storm" and flees into the deli. Immediately following this the area suddenly experiences a flash and the entire area transmogrifies into a horrific iteration made of living flesh. The party is shocked to its core despite their experiences with the undead hordes in Romero Town and must take a moment to recover from the experience. Afterwards, seemingly trapped in the deli itself leaves them little choice but to attempt and locate an exit, forcing them to make their way deep into the Otherworldly Deli until ultimately reaching the kitchen. In the deli's kitchen, the party regroups with Sabbath, now preparing a meal and speaking cryptically. Trying to find a way out of the room, it dawns on them that the meal being prepared before them is made with the remains of the rest of the Famished Burger's staff! Again shocked, Sabbath realizes they have figured it out and acknowledges what the meal is made out of and explains why he killed them as well as how he has been feeding the store's patrons this concoction for some time. The party understandably expresses their displeasure at this news (however, should Serenity be in the party at the time, she will express some minor level of amusement over the situation). This finalizes Sabbath's view over the party and he grows fully detached from reality and, upset, he reveals that he has in fact made a pact with the Gods of Delicious Meats to reclaim his once overflowing potential. With this, Sabbath himself suddenly transforms too, taking on a demonic yet strange looking form. He announces that he will only answer to "Captain Sab" from now on before levitating on awkward, boneless wings. He then summons six burgers to guard him in combat and keeps himself resupplied from his "meat stock". Luckily, the party are able to kill him despite his "potential", and Famished Burger returns to its true state. The party discover that it actually has blood smeared everywhere and the entire establishment is dilapidated and far worse for wear. At that exact moment however, a food inspector walks in and cries out in shock at the sight. He recovers quickly however and immediately announces that he is shutting the delicatessen down due to its insurmountable list of health code violations. He then turns to the party and sternly informs them to leave before ushering them out and locking the door behind them. Finding Alice God Eraser Where Is Your God Now? Chapter 9: An Ocean Apart (Ley Ocean) Chapter 10: Sonna Rainforest Chapter 11 Chapter 12: Big City Wrestlevania Rampant Gang Wars HEAT Sinks No Sign of Heroes (Scarfers!!) Chapter 13: TBA Chapter 14: Planet Invasion Gohd Vengeance Scourge Invasion Why We Can't Have Nice Things Despite the party's best efforts, the Scourge is still running rampant and with nearly all heroes killed off by the Scarfers, things are beginning to look grim for Big City. It is here that the party decide to contact their old ally, Louhen Rehale. They make their way up to the communications relay and get into contact with him only to discover he already knows about the invasion. He also insists that he is working on a solution to the problem before it progresses any worse and insists that they are already on their way to the city. The heroes breathe a sigh of relief and soon afterwards leave the relay to continue the battle against the space pirates. As they reach the bottom of the trail however they find themselves surrounded by Scourge; their friend at the tower has turned them in in order to save his own skin. They are taken prisoner and they are quickly knocked unconscious, immediately blacking out the screen. The sound of water dripping in an echoing room leads to the screen fading back in, and revealing the party to be locked into separate prison cells throughout various rooms of the structure they find themselves in -- there are enough cells for every party member you can have gathered thus far, but only those you have obtained will be filled. Luckily, Rehan, Chawan, and Serenity all have cells near to one another. Chawan grumbles about the week that has since gone by and how starved he feels. Rehan devises a plan to escape: as Serenity is a Dream Demon, he insists she abandon her corporeal form and enter the dreams of the guard. She scratches her head and wonders why she hadn't thought of that herself yet, and then immediately proceeds to enter the mind of the guard. He twitches a little at first before entering a sleepwalking state. He shambles over to Chawan's cell and releases him, and then opens Rehan's. The group agree to split up to free more party members more quickly and they do so. From here, the game will switch between characters every time a group of characters are freed. This is a primarily stealth-oriented section, and each species of space pirate will act differently in their patrol routes. If you are caught then alarms will go off and you will be forced to fight pirates every few steps until you can shut off the security alert at a nearby panel. If you faint in battle, that team will be returned to their cells. They can be freed again by returning to the main room and unlocking their door again; otherwise the game will skip over them during the round robin. Eventually all characters will be freed and you will be able to escape the detainment block, fighting a large boss along the way. This will send the detainment block crashing back down to the earth, as the party realizes that they have been inside of a flying fortress. They barely escape in time aboard "Ejection Panels"; Serenity decides to keep her host for a while, and thus becomes Zarynity and joins the party as a guest for the time being. On the trip back to the ground the party notice four massive creatures nearing the city. They correctly deduce that these must be the weapons sent by Rehale, but they watch in horror as the creatures begin indiscriminately eradicating Scourge emplacements as well as outright destroying the town itself. Unsure what has caused this unprovoked attack, the party realize that they will need to take these creatures down before the city is destroyed. To do so, they must find their way up to the creature's faces, which involves some puzzle solving. The four kaijin - Chain-Yang, Destruction, Rubiez, and Star-Yang - can be fought in any order. When fighting either Rubiez or Star-Yang, some potential party members will mention that they feel like they recognize these monsters -- these individuals who mention this will vary depending on who was in your party during earlier chapters. Once all four kaijin are slain, the party note how their destruction has destroyed large areas of the city but that this is still better than losing the entire settlement. One member of your current party will make the comment, "Boy, they really should fire whoever thought those things looked cool." Luckily, much of the Scourge's forces have been decimated by these kaijin, but the party decide that they must go and speak with Rehale again to alert him as to his error. While the relay person stands in their way, the current lead party member will punch them out. However, once they turn on the communications tower they only receive static -- for some reason, Rehale is not answering their calls. They eventually give up and decide to try and finish off the Scourge. Razing of Big City Chapter 15: Above & Beyond Terran-Gohd War Government Sanctioned Sanctuary Civil Crisis on Ailosis The Scourge Returns Stranded on Vuunega The Fall of Kalindra TBA A Conquest of Galaxies Desolate Dunes of Falphurrn What a Mess on Omess Necrusk Mission Bounty Hunter Convention Freedom from Zolacia Crux of the Problem List of in-game items Key Items *Dragon Egg *Luminrod Specimen *Reginald Bingbong's Eternal Flask *Succulent Squawklegger Meat *Squawklegger Steak Usable Items *Fertility Rose *'Spawn-B-Gon:' Prevents random battles for 50 steps. *'Wolfsbane:' Instantly KO werewolves. Inflict others with Prolonged Death status ailment. Restorative Items *'Heavenly Pear:' Fully restores HP. List of playable characters Category:Somarinoa Category:Games Category:Original Content List of boss characters List of NPCs Category:Somarinoa Category:Games Category:Original Content